Post by Diarist on Nov 9, 2015 15:03:02 GMT 1
Aviation Division
In 1906, Edward Mitchell, the Managing Director of the London and Midlands Bank, invested £15,000 for a 25.1% stake in Rolls-Royce Ltd. which had just been created by the fusion of C.S. Rolls & Co. and Royce Ltd. C.S. Rolls died in 1910, Edmund Claremont in 1921 then F.H. Royce in 1933 and their shares of Rolls-Royce Ltd. all passed to Edward Mitchell in accordance with the 1906 contract.
In 1912 Mitchell invested £100,000 in the creation of Sopwith Aviation Company to build aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce engines, (1914). In 1916 the acquisition of Supermarine Aviation Company followed giving Sopwith access to the naval aviation market. After the end of Great War, and the subsequent collapse of the market, Sopwith was declared bankrupt for tax reasons.
Hawker-Supermarine Aircraft Company was founded later in the year with Sopwith owning 25.1% of the new firm. 1925 Supermarine forms a joint-venture with Short Bros. in Belfast and Hawker-Supermarine purchases A.V. Roe, (Avro), in 1928. In the following year Allison Engine Company is purchased to become Rolls-Royce Inc.(USA). Rolls-Royce subsidiaries have also been built in Australia, Canada and South Africa.
In 1934 the Gloster Aircraft Company is purchased and with the acquisition of North American Aviation in the USA the transatlantic connection is strengthened. In 1935 Avro and the Boeing Airplane Company formed a joint-venture to design four-engine bomber and transport aircraft.
Hawker Siddeley Aircraft was also formed in 1935 as a result of the purchase by Hawker-Supermarine Aircraft of the companies of J. D. Siddeley, the automotive and engine builder Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft.
Since 1931 John Mitchell, a son of Edward Mitchell, heads the Aviation Division of Rolls-Royce Ltd. His twin brother, Robert Mitchell, heads the Naval Division.
Naval Division
The naval activities started with the purchase of Vosper & Company of Portsmouth and John I. Thornycroft & Company of Southampton in 1899. The same year the acquisition of the forgemasters John Brown & Company, Sheffield, followed. J & G Thomson Shipyards, Clydeside, were acquired in 1900. It merged with Harland & Wolff of Belfast in 1912 securing 70% of the new venture.
With the formation of Hawker-Siddeley Aircraft in 1935, the Armstrong-Whitworth Company's naval and armaments assets were transferred to the Naval Division.